joselekas:

Fashola returns ThisDay award
22.07.2008

Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, on Monday returned the ThisDay Governor of the Year Award for distinction in infrastructural development conferred on him in February to its organisers.


Sources close to the Governor’s Office in Alausa said the action came in the aftermath of the recent publications in the ThisDay, title in the stable of Leaders and Company, designed to force the government to violate its physical planning laws to serve the interest of an individual.


According to a letter, with the title: “Return of Award,” which was personally signed by Governor Fashola, a copy of which the Nigerian Tribune obtained, the ThisDay awards was a Greek gift meant to tie the hands of the state’s helmsman.


“Little did I know, on receipt of the award, that it was a Greek gift meant to tie my hands and prevent me from upholding my oath of office, to do right to all manner of people according to law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will,” the letter read.


The governor also restated his determination to continue to hold sacred the oath of his office.


He declared in the letter: “Let me emphasise that on no condition will I depart from my binding commitment to protect the best interest of Lagos State at all times.”


Meanwhile, the state government yesterday defended its integrity, pointing out that recent publications of the newspaper casting aspersion on its character were borne out of malice, mischief and parochial self-interest.


Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, told journalists in Lagos that contrary to insinuations by ThisDay, the state government strictly follows due process and transparency in the award of all contracts.[color=#006600][/color]

vikiviko:

The battle line has been drawn between Thisday Newspapers and the Lagos State Government, personified by its immediate past and present governors, Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola. The past one week has witnessed a barrage of negative reports on Lagos State by Thisday.

I will not dwell on the truthfulness or otherwise of the reports. This piece is to affirm that the hypocrisy of Thisday within the Nigerian socio-political milieu is gradually becoming open for all minds, discerning and undiscerning, to see glaringly.

On Tuesday, July 22, 2008, Thisday’s website had a huge headline reading: “PDP, Obanikoro Call for Tinubu’s Probe”.

I am so surprised that strident calls for Tinubu’s probe came to the notice of Thisday only yesterday! With the very transparent corruption that all the serving and former governors have displayed since 1999, do we need any special investigation to know the existence of so much corruption in contract awards and other government business?

Apparently “encouraged” by the Lagos PDP commendation for the “mind-boggling disclosures” and “for taking the lead” in the patriotic duty of exposing pseudo-progressives such as Tinubu who pretend to be fighting for the masses”, Thisday has “urged other newspapers to wake up to their responsibilities in doing same in the interest of the nation’s democratic project”.

I am not holding fort, or defending the Lagos State government and its governors. I am only curious about why it is only within the past one to two weeks that Thisday Newspapers suddenly “discovered” questionable contracts of the Lagos State government, after its “investigative” journalistic work.

Thisday media is stabbing the Nigerian people behind their back. Why has Thisday only now decided to give prominence to allegations against the former Governor Bola Tinubu? Why is Thisday only now deciding to give prominence to the issues raised by Musiliu Obanikoro since last year during the heat of the 2007 electioneering campaigns?

Is this not the same Thisday that organizes bogus Awards for “achievements” by our underachieving government leaders? Thisday employs all forms of adjectives and superlatives to describe how failures have “achieved” in government. I don’t know what Thisday thinks government stands for, may be Thisday thinks a government is good when it is thought so by its attention-seeking and lavish publisher.

The manner in which Thisday splashes colorful photographs and celebrates the high and mighty, including governors and ministers, with their pseudo capitalists and money-spinning “corporate” patrons often stinks to high heavens. This is not the practice of any serious, balanced newspaper anywhere in the world. Thisday has connived with these attention-seeking governing politicians to promote and celebrate mediocrity as achievements.

This promotion of mediocrity had prompted me to write “Thisday Awards: Celebrating Mediocrity in Government” , in which I totally condemned the over-celebration of under-achievement. The Governor Fashola had received the ‘best governor award’.

As at today, Fashola has returned the “award”, which he called a “Greek gift”. Greek gift or not, none of the governors in the 36 states of Nigeria today deserves any award! It is crimininal to award someone who scored 40 percent, because s/he scored the highest marks in a class of disgraceful failures. Normal societies or communities would rather ask questions and seek reasons for the poor performance, than celebrate and “award” failure and mediocrity!

The shameful discovery only now, of the gross corruption happening in Lagos epitomizes the hypocrisy of Thisday, and other such news media. What is so “revealing” in the obvious corruption by our governors? Yet the same Thisday in May 2008 cooked up a “governors’ scorecard” to mark the first year in office of our “backsliding” governors, whose only forward movement is seen in the open grand stealing that is going on in the 36 government houses.

Thisday newspaper is a big, big conspirator in the designs and stratagems of the ruling elite to undermine Nigeria ’s struggle toward transparency, openness and democracy in general.

May unfolding events continue to open up the grand conspiracies of media like Thisday.

Gamine:
Ha hahahahah

Ass-kissing Thisday has been Exposed!!!

seunmsg:


Well, Thisday is now posturing as fighter for press freedom and the TV station arm is trying to force a candidate down our throat while blackmailing and bullying another candidate like they did to Fashola.